@NCBearsBaseball Picks Up 7-5 WAC Opener Win

Friday, March 24

Greeley, Colo.

2:00 pm

University of Northern Colorado

9-12, 1-0

Sacramento State

11-9, 0-1

Sacramento State

Northern Colorado

Photo by: Rob Trubia

3/24/2017 6:13:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Northern Colorado baseball opened the WAC season with a 7-5 win over Sacramento State

By: Ryan Pfeifer, UNCBears.com

GREELEY – Northern Colorado baseball opened Western Athletic Conference (WAC) play Friday afternoon at a windy Jackson Field. The Bears (9-12, 1-0 WAC) came away with the series opening win over Sacramento State (11-9, 0-1 WAC) 7-5 with a complete team effort.

How It Happened
What was expected to be a pitchers duel between two of the top arms in the WAC, lived up to the hype early one. Northern Colorado's Aaron Hamilton and Sacramento State's Justin Dillon matched zero for zero on the scoreboard allowing no runs through the first five innings of play.

With both teams facing the ace pitchers for the third time in the game, they started to get to them. It began in the top of the sixth when Sacramento State put a pair on with one out. The Bears seemed to have possibly escaped the inning when they caught Sac State's runner Devin Lehman in a pickle between home and third to record the second out on a James Outman single.

The Hornets were able to come up with the big two out hit though from first basemen Vinny Esposito when he put a two RBI double in the right center gap to put Sac St up 2-0.

Northern Colorado responded in the bottom of the seventh as Tyler Yamaguchi doubled to lead off the inning. Dean Lawson then reached on an infield bunt single, to turn the pressure back onto Sacramento State. Evan Johnson then brought home the first run of the game on a sacrifice fly to left field. After that, the Bears offense really heated up.

Cole Maltese walked, and Jack Pauley reached on a catcher's interference call to load up the bases. Brett Minnick came up with the big hit, as the Hornets center fielder struggled with a ball that dropped in for a double in right center to bring in a pair. The Bears added two more before the inning was done with an Alex Kiel and Nick Tanner single, making it 5-2 UNC.

Sacramento State cut the Bears lead to two in the top half of the eighth, but once again UNC responded with runs of their own. It was the heart of the Northern Colorado lineup that did the damage again. Maltese singled to start the inning and stole second, before Jack Pauley smoked a ball down the right field line for a triple. Minnick drove in his third run of the game, when he hit a single to left field and make it a 7-3 game.

The Hornets didn't go away easily, putting a scare into UNC in the ninth. The first four batters reached safely, and then a productive ground out cut the Bears lead to two at 7-5. Anthony Brady would get a strike out swinging and fly out to right to complete the save and Bears win.

Game Changer
Brett Minnick came through with a pair of clutch hits for Northern Colorado Friday afternoon. His first was a one out double to center field, bringing home a pair of Bears and putting the team ahead 3-2 at the time. He then added on a key insurance run with an RBI single in the eighth. For the game Minnick finished 2-for-4 with three RBI and a run scored.

Notable
- Northern Colorado's five runs on Sacramento State starter Justin Dillon were the most allowed by him this season. The previous high was three against Washington State.
- Seven batters recorded a hit in Friday's game. Minnick and Pauley each finished with two.
- Aaron Hamilton picked up his third quality start of the season with a 6.0 inning, two runs on five hits performance. He struck out three while walking just one.
- The win by the Bears snaps an 11-game losing streak to Sacramento State. UNC is now 3-1 when taking on the Hornets in Greeley.

Quotable
Head Coach Carl Iwasaki
"We needed to stay patience against a pitcher like Justin Dillion that we faced today. Him giving up five runs in an inning is something he does not do, coming into today he had gave up three or less in all the games he pitched. Aaron Hamilton pitched a great game for us allowing our hitters to settle in and get to Dillion and that Sacramento State staff. We just had to just stick with our plan and both coach Kai (Correa) and coach (Nate) Rassmusen did a good job helping us stick to it. It's just game one of the series, so we have to come back tomorrow and leave no doubt with a chance to win the series tomorrow and not have to wait until Sunday."

What's Next?
Game two of the series between Northern Colorado and Sacramento State will take place tomorrow at high noon. UNC will look to secure the series win when they throw Troy Watson on the mound against Sac State's Parker Brahms.